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Bat and ball type games are always popular with almost everybody and Crack-Up is no exception.

If you have not seen a bat and ball type game before then the concept behind them is to manoeuvre a bat in order to keep a small ball bashing against a wall of differently arranged coloured bricks.

Crack-Up is almost identical to Audiogenic's Impact game by Gary Partis. You have a choice of using joysticks, as well as playing with a friend before you begin to play this classic game.

As you release your ball off your bat, some bricks begin to release bonus bricks, which if you are quick can be collected, to enable you to receive a bonus. Bonuses include two balls in order to clear the bricks a lot quicker, Level jumper, slow ball and a extra life. These bricks are lettered with the prefix of the bonus i.e. S = Slow Ball. On finishing the first level you automatically move onto subsequent ones. If you want to come back at a later date to play the same level, then the level jump facility allows you to jump to the first six levels.

There are 32 levels in all - when I played level six it was very difficult. Further levels are made harder by the inclusion of bricks which take more than one hit to get rid of. There is nothing substantial left to say about this game except that, although I've seen it all before, at £1.99 Crack-Up is an absolute bargain! Verdict: Make it the next game you buy!

Dave Reeder